Feb 02, 2023 23:00:00

There is a high possibility that open source OS such as Linux will become illegal due to the EU's ``chat regulation law''

The European Parliament is discussing a '

chat regulation law ' that would require email and chat service providers to monitor the content of their communications. Regarding this chat regulation law, concerns have been pointed out that ``the regulation target extends to the package management system of the open source OS, and the existing OS may become illegal.''

EUR-Lex - 52022PC0209 - EN - EUR-Lex
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=COM:2022:209:FIN

EU chat control law will ban open source operating systems - Blog | Mullvad VPN
https://mullvad.net/en/blog/2023/2/1/eu-chat-control-law-will-ban-open-source-operating-systems/

The chat regulation law is a bill submitted to the European Parliament in May 2022, and aims to oblige providers of email and chat services to ``constantly monitor communication content'' and ``implement age verification''. . Since this bill requires the monitoring of communication content regardless of whether communication is encrypted, there are many voices who oppose the bill on the grounds that it ``infringes on privacy'' and ``increases the risk of misjudgment due to false reports.'' has been submitted.

Another problem with the chat regulation law is that the scope of regulation in the bill is too broad. The bill not only regulates email and chat service providers, but also software application stores, requiring age verification and age restrictions on those platforms as well.

When we hear the term “application distribution platform,” platforms such as the App Store, Google Play, and Microsoft Store come to mind, but the bill defines an application distribution platform as an “online intermediary service focused on software and applications.” For this reason, `` Mullvad VPN '', which provides an open source VPN system, points out that ``the package management system provided by many Linux distributions may also be subject to the chat regulation law.'' .

The package management system adopted by Linux distributions is designed to download applications according to the user's request, and is not designed to collect information such as the user's 'age', 'gender', and 'region of use'. Is not ... For this reason, the system needs to be redesigned to comply with the chat regulation law, but redesigning the system is very costly, so an open source OS developed by the community will comply with the chat regulation law. is not realistic.

Mullvad VPN argues against the chat regulation law, saying, ``If the chat regulation law is enforced, the open source OS that supports most of the services and infrastructure on the Internet will be illegal.''

The decision of the European Parliament on the chat regulation law is scheduled to be implemented in October 2023.